Mechanical toy simulating a galloping horse



April 22, 1952 s. CROSBY MECHANICAL TOY SIMULATING A GALLOPING HORSE Filed Feb. 7, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 /n yen/0r s Af/omeys L. s. CROSBY MECHANICAL TOY SIMULATING A GALLOPING HORSE File d Feb. 7. 1950 April 22, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 /n van/0r Attorneys April 22, 1952 MECHANICAL TOY SIMULATING A GALLOPING HORSE Filed Feb. 7. 1950 L. S- CROSBY 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 //7 1/60 far W 5. My

Af/omeys Patented Apr. 22, 1952 MECHANICAL TOY SIMULATING A GALLOPING HORSE Lemuel S. Crosby, Towaco, N. J Application February 7, 1950, Serial No. 142,892

' 19 Claims. (01. 46 -105) This invention relates to mechanical movements useful in mobiletoys for amusement; for use in games or as childrens vehicles and the like. 3

One object of the invention is to provide a device capable of being made to simulate a fourlegged animal which can be made to progress over a supporting surface on wheels afiixed to the D legs by the actuation of a quadrilateral linkage operatively connected to the legs.

Another object is to provide for the operation of said linkage by the alternate pulling of a pair of cords wound on a drum by means of which a A further object is to provide means for ac:

tuating a quadrilateral linkage by means of gearing associated with a pair of adjacent links.

Other objects and advantageswill in part appear and in part will be obvious from the present preferred embodiment of the invention as hereinafter described in conjunction with the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a toy horse canable of being driven forward by the manipulation of a pair of cords which are alternately pulled rearwardly;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the toy with the legs in closed position; Fig.3 is a similar view showing the legs in open or extended position; i i

Fig. 4 is a broken plan view showing the actuating drum and associated parts;

Fig. 5 is a partial detail of the rearend of the:

toy in rearwardly tilted position illustrating the release of the rear wheel locking means;

Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation taken on the lin 6-6 of Fig. 2; e

Fig. 7 is an elevation of the rear wheel locking means, partly in section, showing the device in looking position and Fig. 8 is a view of the same in released position; i

Fig. 9 is an elevation, partly in section, showing the front wheel locking means;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged detail, partly in sectional elevation, taken on the line lO-lll of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a detailed view taken on the line mounted a small wheel Iii. the body corresponding to the center of the 2 ll-H of Fig. 2 showing one of the braces between the rear leg links; and

Fig. 12is adiagram showing in elevation the principle of operation of the quadrilateral link-' age.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 6, the invention is illustrated as embodied in ,a toy horse having a hollow body portion I5 having a rigid tail it in the bifurcated end l3 of which is rotatably The upper part of horses back is provided with a thickened portion 20 containing a cylindrical aperture 2|, as may be seen in Fig. 4. This portion and the adjacent sides of the body. may be painted or otherwise colored to simulate a saddle 22. The material of the thickened portion 20 is extended down wardly a short distance under the center of aperture 2| to form a boss 24 drilled to receive a shaft 25 which is squared at its upper end 28 and afiixed to a drum 28 which rests in aperture iront legs 44 are similarly connected by a spacer "bloclc52. Inplace of such blocks metal braces 2|. This drum is provided with two circumferential grooves 29 and 3D; Interposed between the boss 24 and the drum 28 is a washer 3| The horse has a neck and head portion 32 and all of the parts so far described, with the exception of the shaft 25 and the washer 35, may readily be formed from molded plastic material or the like.

Mounted on the horse there is shown the figure of a jockey having a torso 34, arms 35 which are rigidly attached thereto bymeans of screws 36, and legs 38 pivotally attached to the torso at 39. The arms are pivotally attached to the neck 32 by means of a pin or screw 40. The legs are attached to opposite sides of thebody J5 by inwardly extending pins 4| (Fig. 3). v

The device has a pair of front legs 44 and apair of rear legs 45, which maybe metal. stamp unit in suitable apertures provided therefor in. the lower ends of the legs.

The rear legs are secured together and held in parallelism in part by means of a spacer block whichis attached to. them by screws 5| (Fig. 11), and the may be used, riveted or welded to the legs.

1 {it their upper ends the 'legsj 44 and 45 extend angularly and inwardly toward one another,

their ends being rotatably connected by means of a pivot pin 54, the upper ends of the legs thus forming two of the links 44a and 45a of a quadrilateral linkage. (See Fig. 12.) One of the other links of said linkage is the lower end 32a of the head and neck portion 32 which extends between the front legs 44 and is pivoted to the link 44a by a pin 55. Body It is provided on its inner faces with a pair of parallel grooves 56 which slidingly receive the extended ends of pivot pin 55. The fourth link of the quadrilateral linkage is the connecting or drive link 58 which is attached at its lower endto the end of the link 32a by means of pin 55? and at its upper end is connected to the link 25a by the pin 51!. All of the links of this quadrilateral linkage except the neck link 32a occur in pairs and, as may best be seen in Fig. 6, the pin 59 which ex tends through the two links 58 and the end of the neck link 32a carries spacing bushings 6| which keep the neck link in centered position. The pin 69 is likewise surrounded by a single spacing sleeve t2 and washers 54 which support the upper ends of the links 58 in properly spaced relationship to the rear leg links 45a.

The full lines of the diagram (Fig. 12) show the relationship of the parts of the quadrilateral linkage-with the legs in closed position, the pivot points of the linkage being indicated by small circles. To maintain the linkage in this closed position, and for other reasons hereinafter explained, a resilient member in the form of a tension coil spring 65 is connected across the linkage, for example, between the link Ma and an extension of the link 32a. illustrated in Fig. 3, spring 65 is shown as attached at one end, inside of the hollow neck portion 32, to a hook 65 and at the other end to .a hook 68 on the spacer block 52. As may be seen by comparison of Figs. 2 and 3, spacer block 52 also acts as a stop limiting the closed and extended positions of the legs by engagement-with the curved rear face of the neck portion 32 which is indicated by the line 69. v

As will be obvious from Figs. 2. 3 and 12, if downward pressure is applied to the top of the linkage over the pin 54, as indicated by the ar row, the legs .4 and 4 5 wiil move from the closed position shown in 2 to the extended position shown in Fig. 3, extending the spring 65, the dotted line diagram of'Fig. 12 corresponding to the position of the parts as shown in' Fig. 3. Upon release of the pressure the legs will return to their closed position as shown in full lines in Fig. 12 and in Fig. 2. The wheels t9 being provided with locking means. hereinafter described, permitting them to rotate only in a forward direction, frictional engagement of. the. rear wheels with a supporting surface causes the rear legs to maintain their position while .the front legs move forwardly over the surface. Upon return of the mechanism to the closed position the inability of the front wheels. to rotate rearwardly causes the rear legs to be drawn forwardly. toward the front legs-.and the result is that the device progresses over the supporting surface. Such progression may be achieved either by the alternate application and release of downward pressure on the linkage or by movement of the linkage through some independent the links themselves.

on could be made to progress over a supporting surface, by means of a mechanical movement In the device. as.

embodying the linkage described above, the device being actuated by the child alternately resting his weight upon the saddle portion of the body and raising it therefrom. Or a toy may be constructed which will progress upon the appli cation and release of pressure upon the top of the toy, the pressure acting to separate the legs which will again be drawn together by release of pressure through the energy stored in spring 65, thus providing. a toy which will leap forward following each application and release of downward pressure, the extent of the leap being proportionate to the strength of the spring.

In any of these possible embodiments of the invention, suitable locking means for the wheels is necessary and the means is preferably. one which contains no lost motion. Ratchets and pawls may be associated with the legs and axles but these involve some lost motion and it is therefore preferred to use the locking means which. will now be described. Referring to Figs. 7-10, each axle 46 is provided adjacent one of the legs in. which it is supported with a grooved hubi ll fastened thereto by a pin T2, the groove having a V-shaped cross-section as shown at 14. Hinged to the legs adjacent hubs H and surrounding the axles and the hubs are ringshaped, gravity-actuated wedge locks shown at i on one of the front legs (Fig. 9) and at '56 on one of the rear legs (Fig. 7). These locks are held on the legs by means of screws 18 threaded through the legs and held by lock nuts ii (Fig. 6). Other securing means such as rivets may be used. The openings in the rings 15 and 16 are large enough to clear the hubs H except at one portion of their inner edges where they are provided with wedge segments as indicated at, 80. These segments are so located that movement of the locking rings under the influence of gravity causes them to move into the grooves and to bind against the sides thereof when the .wheels are attempted to be moved in a rearward direction. It will be seen' in Fig. 9 that the'locking link of the front wheel has a wedge segment which falls downwardly into the'groove 14 The point of binding engagement of this wedge segment with the groove is so located as to be angularly displaced upwardly from a line passing through the center of screw 18 and the center of axle 46. With respect to the rear. leg lock shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the looking ring 15 is provided with a rearwardly extending spur 8| which overbalances the opposite side of the locking ring so that the wedge section 80 moves upwardly into locking engagement with the groove 14 and the point of locking engagement of this segment is displaced angularly downwardly from a. line passing through the centers of the pivot screw 18 and axle 46. This angle of displacement should not be more than about 30 in order to have 'eifective locking and the locking effect increases as the angle diminishes. If the angle istoo close to zero binding may result.

As may be seen from Fig. 8, the rear wheel wedge locks may be disengaged by tilting the toy backwardly so that the spur 8i engages the supporting surface on which the wheel 49 is resting. Fig. 5 shows the toy in this position in which it is supported only on the rear Wheels and the tail wheel l9. How the toy is placed in this'position will be explained in describing thev operation.

Referring to Figs. 2, 3 and 6, a gear train will ,now be described by means of which the quadrilateral linkage may be actuated to cause movement of the legs and consequent motion of the device across a supporting surface, the gear train being actuated by drum 28, which is alternately rotated in opposite directions by means of cords 84 and 85. These cords are wrappedin opposite directions about the drum and lie in the grooves 29 and 39. Each cord is wrapped two or three times about the drum and secured by knotting its end inside of a cavity 86 which communicates with the grooves, these cords extending outwardly through holes 88 in the thickened portion 29 of the body l5. Shaft 25, which is supported at its upper end in boss 24 is rotatably supported at its lower end in a bearing block 89 rotatably supported on a shaft 90 which is rotatably sup ported in the connecting links 58. Just above the bearing block there is affixed to the shaft" the drum pinion 9| which mesheswith a drive pinion gear 92 fixed to shaft 99, gear 92 being in the form of a plate having perforations around its circumference to engage the teeth of pinion 51. Fixed on shaft 90 outside of the links 53 are a pair of drive pinions 94 which engage gear segments 95 formed on the rear leg links a, these gear segments being centered on the center of pin 69. It will thus be seen that rotation of the drum by means of the cords, alternately in opposite directions, will, through the gear train described, cause movement of the quadrilateral linkage from the position shown in Fig. 2 tothat shown in Fig. 3 and vice versa.

It will readily be seen that the drive pinions 94 and the gear segments 95 may be associated with any adjacent pair of links of .the linkage to accomplish the same results.

The outer ends of the drive pinion shaft 95! extend outwardly beyond the pinions and serve, in conjunction with the pin and grooves 55, to support the body I5, through which said ends of shaft 90 extend as shown in Fig. 6, so. that the body has spaced apart points of support on the linkage mechanism, the other points being the pivot pin 55 slidably engaging the walls of the grooves 56.

Operation The operation of the specific embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings should be evident from the description thereof but will be briefly summarized as follows: The device is placed on a flat supporting surface of such nature that the rubber tires on the wheels 49 will have good frictional engagement therewith and the operator grasps the cords 84" and 85 in his hands pulling first on one cord and then on the other to rotate the drum 28. This actuates the quadrilateral linkage through the driving sears to move the legs together and apart, the toy being caused to progress across the surface due to the fact that the wheels can rotate only in one direction. The seeming paradox of producing forward movement by rearward pull on the cords is made possible by the fact that the driving mechanism for the linkage and the linkage itself give a very great mechanical advantage so that the force required to move the linkage by a pull on one or the other of the cords is very much less than that which would be required to overcome the friction between the rubber tired wheels and the supporting surface.

When it is desired to retrieve the toy by pulling it in a backward direction, tension is applied to both cords simultaneously so as to cause the horse to rear backward and rest only upon the rear wheels and the tail wheel. This releases the lock on the rear wheels as shown in Fig. 5 through engagement of the spur 3| with the surface, and the device may easily be rolled backward. ,The. center of gravity being ahead of the rear wheels the front end comes down again an all fours when the cords are released.

When the drum is moved in a direction to cause the front legs to move forwardly there is very good frictional engagement between the rear-wheels and the supporting surface due to a combination of the weight of the device and the pull on the cord. During this movement the spring 6-5 is extended bytheforward movement of the neck 32 relative to the front leg links 44a. In the next phase of the movement, when the front legs are locked and the rear legs are being brought toward them by opposite rotation of the drum, the weight on the front wheels is more 01' less opposed by the rearward pull on the cord for which reason it may be desirable to add weight to the front end as by the weight 48 on. the front.

axle. The tendency to lift the front wheels off the surface and decrease their frictional engage- I ment therewith is further primarily counteracted,

however, by the fact that the spring 65 assists in moving the linkage to leg closing position, thus reducing the tension required to be applied to the cord to actuate the device.

During the operation of the device the figure of the jockey, which is attached respectively to the body and neck portions which are moving toward and away from each other, is caused to perform realistic riding movements permitted by the pivotal connection of his legs to his body.

It is to be understood that while the invention has been illustrated by reference to a specific embodiment thereof which has been described in detail, it is not limited thereto but is to be construed broadly within the purview of the claims.

What is claimed is:

4 1. In a toy or the like, in combination, a quadrilateral linkage, supporting legs forming prolongations of two adjacent links of said linkage, a head and neck portion forming an extension of another of said links, wheels rotatably carried by the ends of said legs, resilient means acting upon said linkage for drawing the wheels togather, and means for preventing rotation of the wheels in one direction while permitting free rotation in the opposite direction.

2. In a toy or the like, in combination, a quadrilateral linkage, supporting legs forming prolongations of two adjacent links of said link'- age, wheels on the ends of said legs, means preventing rotation of said wheels in one direction, one of the links of said linkage having a gear segment overlying an adjacent link and centered on its pivot, a drive pinion rotatably supported by said adjacent link and adapted to drive said segment, and means for rotating said drive pinion.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said means for rotating said drive pinion comprises a drum, means for rotatably supporting said drum, and a pair of cords wound on the drum in opposite directions.

r 7 means forming. extensions of adjacent links in said linkage, wheels attached to said means adapted to frictionally engage a supporting surface, means for preventing rearward rotation of the wheels, a gear segment on one link of said linkage, a drive pinion rotatably carried by an adjacent link, a drum, means for rotatably supporting the drum, a tension member wound on said drum and having its ends extending rearwardly of the device whereby tension applied alternately to said ends rotates the drum in opposite directions, and drive means connecting said drum with said drive pinion, the mechanical advantage in the drive system extending from said drum to said wheels being such that the pull on said tension member cannot overcome the friction between said wheels and said surface.

6. A mobile toy simulating a four-legged animal comprising a quadrilateral linkage, the two upper links thereof having downward extensions simulating front and hind legs, the lower link which is attached to the front leg link having an extension simulating a head, a gear segment carried by the hind leg link, a drive pinion engaging said segment, a shaft for said pinion supported in the other lower link and extending outwardly thereof, a body having a pivotal connection with said shaft, a second shaft extending through one of the pivots of said linkage, means providing a sliding connection between said body and said second shaft, and driving means supported by said body by which said drive pinion can be rotated.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein said driving means comprises a drum and a pair of tension members wound thereon in opposite directions and extending rearwardly of said toy.

8. In a wheeled toy or the like, in combination, front legs, rear legs, a quadrilateral linkage having adjacent links constituting extensions of said legs, a spring acting upon said linkage to draw the legs together, one of the links of said linkage having a gear segment cente'r'ed on its pivot, a drive pinion rotatably supported by an adjacent link and meshing with said segment, means for rotating said pinion, wheels carried by the ends of said legs for rolling engagement with a supporting surface whereby ressure upon said linkage in a direction toward said surface 'moves said legs apart, locking means for said wheels permitting rotation in only one direction, and a body member supported upon and covering said linkage.

9. A mechanical toy or the like simulating a four-legged animal and adapted to be propelled by tensionv alternately applied to a pair of cords held by the operator comprising two parallel quadrilateral linkages each consisting of four pivotally connected links, two adjacent pairs of said links having extensions forming two pairs of legs, an axle carried by each pair of legs, wheels fixed on said axles, means limiting the rotation of said axles to one direction, a gear segment on one of said links centered on its pivot, a shaft rotatably mounted in the pair of links adjacent the link having said segment, a drive pinion fixed on said shaft meshing with said segment, a driven gear fixed on said shaft intermediate its supporting links, a body supported on said linkage, a drive shaft rotatably supported on said body, a bearing for the end of the drive shaft rotatably supported on said drive pinion shaft, 9. drive shaft pinion fixed on said drive shaft meshing with said driven gear, a drum fixed on said drive shaft, and actuating cords wound on said drum in opposite directions by means of which said drum canbe oscillatedto move said legs toward and away from each other.

10. In a mechanical toy or the like, in combination, front legs, rear legs, wheels rotatably carried by said legs, means for moving said legs toward and away from each other, a body mounted over said legs and having a tail portion extending to a point above and behind the Wheels carried by the rear legs, locking means normally preventing the rotation of said wheels in. a rearward direction, the locking means for said rear wheels having a spur adapted upon engagement with the surface supporting said wheels to move said locking means to unlock the rear wheels when said toy is tipped back with the tail in engagement with said surface.

LEMUEL S. CROSBY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENT$ 

